A NIGHT ALONE ON CHOC OR UA. 
67 
tage rests at the tip. No storm impended over 
those whom I had left behind, but the voice of 
the thunder reminded me of what was passing 
to the northward. 
Under the long level black cloud, from which 
zigzag lightning darted downward like a snake’s 
tongue, were three zones of color. The first, 
nearest the east, and at the head of the storm as 
it moved forward, was gray. It was formed of 
scud. The second was black, and from it shot 
most of the lightning. The third was snowy 
white shaded by perpendicular lines. This was 
the rain. Each belt seemed to be two miles or 
more in width, and the whole was moving about 
twenty miles an hour. When I reached the 
peak, Carrigain Notch was just passing under 
the scud, and as I watched, Lowell, Anderson, 
and Nancy were in turn obscured. By the time 
Mount Nancy was covered, Carrigain and its 
notch were reappearing. Meanwhile, the golden 
gap in the clouds had closed, and the second 
storm was approaching. Its course was such as 
to take in Chocorua, Paugus, and the Swift 
River intervale which lay just below me on the 
north. Wild as the first storm made the north¬ 
ern sky, the second one seemed bent upon mak¬ 
ing the picture even more gloomy. It was the 
moment of sunset, but the sun was lost in a 
wilderness of thunder-clouds. Suddenly a sound 
